No-Weight Class UFC Tournament Impossible Today; Superfights Instead

UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie must have been a fan of the 1988 Van-Damme masterpiece, Bloodsport. Like the iconic flick, the Ultimate Fighting Championship claimed to pit the best fighters from different disciplines against one another in a no-holds-barred eight-man tournament.

The shock-and-awe of this concept garnered many curious viewers, but the evolution of the sport has made a no-weight class tournament downright impossible. No fan wants to see flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson get destroyed by his heavyweight counterpart, Cain Velasquez.

As MMA’s legitimacy grows, fighter safety is of the utmost concern and a no-weight class tournament would undermine the progress the sport has made over the last 20 years.

In the early days, fighters were not multifaceted and possessed only one skill-set. The UFC sought to solve age-old barroom debates like: “Could a jiu-jitsu practitioner submit a boxer?”

There were no weight classes and virtually no rules. These first bouts were often David versus Goliath affairs. In fact, Keith Hackney earned the nickname “The Giant Killer” following his TKO win over the 600-pound sumo wrestler Emmanuel Yarborough at UFC 3.

This spectacle gave rise to the popular notion that mixed martial arts was nothing more than human cockfighting. The sport shouldered this stigma until 2000, at which time the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board created the Unified Rules for MMA. These regulations instituted fighter safety precautions and most notably weight classes.

The UFC adopted the Unified Rules in 2001, legitimizing the brand throughout North America.

As the sport evolved, so did the techniques and disciplines. Early fights served as a roadmap for success inside the Octagon. Fighters began training and mastering the aspects of many practices in an effort to become a true mixed martial artist.

Now an entire generation of aspiring fighters has grown up not wanting to be the next Mike Tyson, but rather the next Anderson Silva. Recently, the sport has begun to draw world-class talent in droves.

Reigning light heavyweight champ Jon Jones is the model upon which the new breed of MMA prospects will be built. With two brothers in the NFL, Jones has an athletic pedigree unlike those that have fought under the UFC banner before him.

Moving forward, fighters like Jones are sure to be the norm and not the exception.

To give even an accomplished fighter like Jose Aldo a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Jones would be generous. That is not to take anything away from Aldo, because he is a great fighter.

Rather, this is a commentary on how well-rounded at each discipline fighters have become. The weight and reach differences are magnified tremendously—so much so, that combatants’ safety would be of serious concern.

With big money sponsorships and a burgeoning relationship with FOX, the UFC cannot afford any setbacks. A no-weight class tournament would be a huge risk and potentially disastrous for the brand.

However, the UFC does have a way to satiate the fans’ hunger for spectacular weight-class defying bouts. The era of the superfight is upon us. The best pound-for-pound fighters will go at each other in epic fashion; it’s just a matter of time. But unlike the UFC of 20-years ago, these bouts are to be closely monitored and heavily regulated.

While the no-holds-barred, no-weight class tournaments are ancient history, fans are sure to enjoy many amazing superfights to come...if the first couple events can be pulled off successfully. (Source)

Ten-fight deal in place, UFC champ Anderson Silva says he only asked for four

When UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (33-4 MMA, 16-0 UFC) steps in to the cage at UFC 162, it will be the first appearance of a massive 10-fight deal. Will Silva actually fight 10 more times? The champ said he doesn’t know, especially since he only asked for a four-fight contract.

“Maybe there’s a contradiction lost in translation,” Silva told MMAjunkie.com through an interpreter. “I wanted to do four more fights, and they said eight, so I said, ‘Whatever. Let’s do eight, 10. Let’s do however many fights you want.’ They got on that ride and offered me 10 fights, and that’s what I signed.”

Silva’s claim stands in a bit of contrast to UFC President Dana White’s recollection of the pair’s latest contract talks. According to White, it was Silva who directly requested the lengthy deal despite recently turning 38 years old.

The UFC boss and the best fighter in company history have seemed to find themselves on different wavelengths in recent months, as witnessed by a series of missed media obligations in May and subsequent claim from the champ that he was completely unaware of the appointments.

Of course, White has often referred to Silva as “an artist,” who likes to send mixed messages in the media in an apparent attempt to entertain himself during the sessions he reportedly doesn’t enjoy.

That said, fans don’t pay to watch Silva give interviews or negotiate contracts. They pay to watch him destroy opponents, which is exactly what he’s done in all but a handful of his 16 UFC appearances. Next up is Chris Weidman (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who takes on the champ in the headlining bout of UFC 162, which takes place July 6 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

While Silva holds a significant experience edge, the decade-younger Weidman presents a difficult stylistic matchup. Still, Silva is a significant wagering favorite and is expected to win yet again.

If he does, what’s left? A rematch with Vitor Belfort perhaps? Superfights with Georges St-Pierre and/or Jon Jones? In short, what are the chances we actually see “The Spider” fight 10 more times?

“It all depends,” Silva said. “Ten fights is about six years, so we’ll see what happens in the meantime. I hope that I’m still inspired and that I still have the will power and the desire to go out there and fight. But I’m happy.

“I’m well-treated by Dana and Lorenzo (Fertitta) and everyone in the UFC, and I hope to continue having this desire to fight and go in there and train. But it’s a matter of time. We have to go in there and see what’s going to happen in the next few years.” (Source)

Cathal Pendred TKOs Che Mills, asks Dana White for shot at UFC on FOX Sports 1 in Boston

Cathal Pendred picked up the win over a UFC veteran he was looking for, and soon he’ll find out if it was enough to finally get him signed by the promotion.

The Irish prospect defeated Che Mills via third round TKO (corner stoppage) at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 55 on Saturday at The Helix in Dublin, Ireland. Pendred’s CWFC welterweight title was supposed to be on the line, but the bout was changed to a non-title fight on Friday after Mills missed weight by seven-tenths of a pound.

After the fight, Pendred, who was joined in the cage by his mother wearing a “Pendred UFC” T-shirt, took it upon himself to campaign one more time for a shot in the big show.

“Who wants to see me fight in the UFC on Aug. 17 in Boston?” he asked the partisan crowd. “Let me hear you! Let’s go Dana [White], baby!”

Pendred dominated both rounds rather convincingly with a steady stream of takedowns, submission attempts and ground-and-pound. He thought he was close to finishing Mills at the end of the second round while he was landing punches in mount position, but referee Marc Goddard decided against stopping the fight.

When Pendred secured mount again early in the third round, Mills soon complained of a shoulder injury, and his corner subsequently threw in the towel.

As a result, Pendred extended his unbeaten streak to eight in a row and improved his overall MMA record to 13-2. The Boston-born Irishman has been pushing for a spot on the upcoming UFC on FOX Sports 1 debut card in Boston on Aug. 17, and he insinuated on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour that he had already been told that a win over Mills would be the catalyst to get him signed by the UFC.

Recently, Pendred’s teammates from the Straight Blast Gym, Gunnar Nelson and Conor McGregor, have gotten the call from the UFC and are currently a combined 3-0 inside the Octagon.

White was asked about Pendred’s chances of fighting in Boston at the UFC on FUEL TV 9 post-fight press conference in April, but he told a reporter, “don’t know who he is yet.”

Pendred hopes that changed on Saturday night. (Source)

Rashad Evans Braces for Dan Henderson; Still Has Sights on UFC Gold

For a guy who didn’t taste defeat until his 15^th fight as a professional mixed martial arts fighter, Rashad “Suga” Evans has had his share of hard times lately.

For the first time in his MMA career, Evans is coming off consecutive losses, and there are some who even think “The Ultimate Fighter” season two alumni’s best days are behind him.

That’s probably because of the lackluster performance he had during his last outing, when he squared up against Antônio Rogério “Little Nog” Nogueira at UFC 156. Rashad had arguably his worst performance to date in the UFC, barely landing any strikes, completing only one of his five takedown attempts.

The result: a unanimous decision victory for Nogueira.

The lackluster performance ended lucrative offers that were on the horizon for Evans, like potentially dropping down to the middleweight division to challenge current champion Anderson Silva for his belt.

Fortunately for Evans, he’ll get a chance to redeem himself when he headlines the UFC 161 fight card with Dan “Hendo” Henderson on June 15, at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Canada.

“I had a chance to compete against some of the best mixed martial artists of all-time: Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, [Lyoto] Machida, [Quinton] Rampage Jackson, Tito Ortiz, Jon Jones, now Dan Henderson,” Evans said during a UFC 161 promo. “I’m excited about the opportunity to fight Dan Henderson. He’s definitely on the top of that list of some of the best and some of the hall of famers I’ve competed against.”

Rashad understands his reluctance to engage during his bout against Nogueira played a role in how the Octagon-side judges scored their clash, so he plans to be a lot more aggressive when he squares up against Henderson.

“I know what I need to do to get the results that I want to get,” Evans added. “Takedown, ground-n-pound, roll up our sleeves and get dirty, go to work. I’m gonna try to get fifty takedowns this fight. Fifty! If I get him down on the ground, I want to ground-n-pound him till he’s done.”

Like Rashad, Henderson is also coming off a loss (to Machida), so the Pride FC veteran will also look to make a strong statement at UFC 161. Hendo’s wrestling just might be good enough to force a standup battle, and we all know that he has more than enough power to put anyone to sleep if he connects with his right hand.

Rashad obviously doesn’t need anyone to remind him about Henderson’s power.

“Dan’s right hand is very dangerous, he knocks everybody out hard. He just knocks them the hell out and they sleep for a long time,” Evans said. “I’m not going to go in there and stand in front of him and try bang it out and hope to God I don’t get hit with that big right hand. I’m going to be smart. He’s gonna want to knock me out. It’s not gonna happen. He’s not knocking me out.”

While some might be ready to close the curtain on Evan’s UFC career, Suga insists he still has a lot left in his tank. Becoming a world champion once again remains his primary goal.

“I’m not going anywhere. I may have stumbled a little bit, fell down, but I get back up, dust myself off,” Evans concluded. “I’m a top competitor. I deserve a chance to fight for the belt.” (Source)

UFC Changes Testing Threshold on Marijuana

New marijuana testing rules implemented by the UFC will mean that as long as a fighter isn’t high on the day of the fight, it’s all good.

According to MMAJunkie.com, UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner said the MMA promotion will raise the testing threshold for marijuana metabolites from 50 ng/mL to 150 ng/mL, which is in line with the recent change implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The changes are designed to make sure fighters aren’t under the influence of the drug during competition but could be safe if they use it weeks or even days before.

However, the changes will only be applied in places where the UFC self-regulates its events and not in its home state of Nevada where the 50 ng/mL rule will remain.

“When we self-regulate around the world, we are going to go the WADA standard of 150,” Ratner told MMA Junkie. “So we’re starting that immediately.”

The UFC acts as its own regulator when it stages events in places where there is no official sanctioning body, such as March’s UFC on FUEL TV 8 in Japan, where Alex Caceres tested positive for marijuana metabolites. The failed drug test caused his decision win over Kyung Ho Kang to be turned into a no-contest.

Ratner told MMA Junkie that Brazil’s athletic commission has also agreed to raise the threshold, which will come into effect during next week’s UFC on Fuel TV 10 event. That’s six months too late for light heavyweight Thiago Silva, who’ll be competing at the event after he tested positive for marijuana metabolites in his fight against Stanislav Nedkov in Macau, China.

It’s also too late for Pat Healey, who recently lost $130,000 in bonuses for testing positive for marijuana after his win over Jim Miller. (Source)

UFC 162: Rafaello Oliveira Replaces John Makdessi, Meets Edson Barboza

An injury has spoiled what was expected to be a highly entertaining striking matchup between Edson Barboza and John Makdessi at UFC 162 in Las Vegas.

According to MMAJunkie.com, with Makdessi out of that bout, Barboza will now meet fellow Brazilian Rafaello Oliveira, who has not competed since beating Yoislandy Izquierdo in July 2012. Oliveira had been scheduled for a bout with Michael Chiesa at UFC on Fox 5, but an injury has kept him out of action since then.

Coming off of back-to-back wins, Makdessi would have had an opportunity to move to 2-0 in 2013 had he not been injured, and doing so against Barboza would have put him in position to campaign for a fight with a highly ranked 155-pound opponent. Instead, he now finds himself on the shelf for an unspecified length of time.

Assuming he does meet Oliveira at UFC 162, this will be the third straight time Barboza has met an opponent whom he was not originally booked against. The Brazilian suffered his first UFC loss against replacement foe Jamie Varner after an Evan Dunham injury, and he recently picked up a win over Lucas Martins despite being initially slated to meet Justin Salas.

With a 1-2 UFC record, Oliveira is likely to be a significant underdog in this matchup with Barboza. Oliveira was stopped by a head kick from Yves Edwards, and Barboza is a much younger and arguably more dangerous striker than Edwards.

A victory over Oliveira wouldn’t do much for Barboza in terms of rankings, but an impressive one would give him back-to-back wins and enough momentum for a big step up in competition.

Headlined by a middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman, UFC 162 will be held on July 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Barboza and Oliveira are expected to meet on the FX prelims of that fight card. (Source)

The third call’s the charm for UFC 161’s James Krause

For James Krause, perhaps the third time is the charm.

For a while now, Krause (19-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has been considered one of the best fighters around not signed to a major promotion. But the UFC took care of that earlier this week when Krause stepped in for an injured Isaac Vallie-Flagg to meet Sam Stout (20-8-1 MMA, 8-7 UFC) at UFC 161 in two weeks.

It wasn’t the first time Krause had gotten the call from the UFC. But this time, he was ready.

“They’ve called me about three times now, all in the past six months,” Krause told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “They wanted me to fight Yves Edwards, and I took the fight - but they had him fight Jeremy Stephens. Then they wanted me to fight Norman Parke, but it was six days’ notice, and it was too much weight for me to cut – 28 pounds. Even if I’d have made the weight, I’d have fought like crap, I probably would’ve lost, and nobody would get to see my true skill set.

“I didn’t want to sell myself short and I wanted everyone to see what I’m all about. I told Joe Silva if you call again, I’ll be ready. I’ve been training like I’ve had a fight, and I had a feeling something like this would happen.”

UFC 161 takes place June 15 at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook. The Krause-Stout lightweight bout is part of the FX prelims.

Krause has some big-time experience in the WEC and Bellator, and that’s where three of his four losses have come. His two-fight stint in the WEC saw him drop fights to Donald Cerrone and Ricardo Lamas. In Bellator, he lost to Toby Imada. All three of those would be considered forgivable losses.

But now he’s riding a seven-fight win streak that includes five stoppages. In January, he took a unanimous decision from Imada in their rematch under the Resurrection Fighting Alliance banner.

But for Krause, answering the call and being ready to finally get a shot in the UFC was a no-brainer.

“I always liked fighting for Titan, WEC, RFA ... but at the end of the day, if you’re not in this sport to be at the top, I don’t know why you’re doing it,” he said. “There are guys who are extremely susccessful outside the UFC. But that’s always been my goal. The ultimate goal was to be in the UFC one day.”

Krause said if not for the weight cut being too brutal, he wouldn’t be on his third call from the UFC. He’d have fought on one of the previous short-notice calls that came his way.

Turning it down because he was too big was not something he wanted to repeat if the call came again.

“It was real hard for me, but (saying no) was something I had to do,” Krause said. “I would’ve been right back to where I was before. I kind of beat myself up over it, but I walk around between 180-185. It sucked I weighed that much, so immediately I started getting my weight down. But I can’t sit there and dwell on it, and I’m not going to beat myself up over it.”

Instead, he got back in shape, pretending the call was going to come. And it did. And when it did, he was a big fan of the name he was hearing on the other end of the line.

Stout has won four of his past six and six of his past nine, and a win over a veteran like him in his UFC debut could put a of attention on Krause.

“The style matchup, I like a lot,” he said. “It’ll be a good fight. He’s shorter, and he doesn’t have a lot of power. He goes to decision a lot. We liked it for the fact it’ll be a good fight to showcase my skills. (There will be) high-volume punches, and he matches up real well for me. I’m sure he’s working hard, as am I, and that’s why we fight – to figure all this out.”

But Krause’s mind was made up that he’d love to figure things out with Stout, or whoever else they’d ever have in mind, the minute the call came in.

“It was pretty instantaneous,” he said. “I talked to my manager and got back to (the UFC) within a half-hour. There are other people along the ride with me, so to be respectful I had to consult those guys. But I loved the matchup instantly – in my head, the decision was already made.”

For the latest on UFC 161, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site. (Source)